2011 NOVA SCOIIA SUPREME COURT OF t \.riJ\\' ~.

Hfx. No. 343536

BETWEEN: AUBREY PELLEY and DEANNA SMITH

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-ANDTHE NOVA SCOTIA HOME FOR COLORED CHILDREN, a body corporate and THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NOVA SCOTIA, representing Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of Nova Scotia DEFENDANTS Proceeding under the Class Proceedi'ngs Act, S.N.S 2007, c. 28 Affidavit of Jane Earle I, Jane Earle, of the city of Upper Tantallon in the Province of Nova Scotia, MAKE OATH AND SAY THAT: 1. I am a former Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children ("NSHCC"). I have approximately forty years experience in child welfare-related positions. I worked for the Province with the Department of Child Welfare from 19671969. In 1969 I became a ward supervisor with the Children's Aid Society of Halifax. I had ninety-nine of the Province's wards under my care. My job was to place these wards and to supervise them after placement. I am a former foster care worker with the Children's Aids Society of Winnipeg, wherein I was responsible for assessing and approving and supporting foster homes. I later became the Alternate Placement Supervisor with the West Region Child and Family Services. In this position I was responsible for recruiting foster homes, developing alternate placements, supervising all staff within the Agency with respect to placement matters, and policy and program development. I later became the Director of Manitoba's Foster Family Association, where I was responsible for a membership of 2400 foster homes. In conjunction with staff of the Director of Child Welfare in Manitoba, I was a crucial part of a group to develop a protocol for foster parents facing abuse allegations. 2. I have also provided foster care to many children over the years, including to several children who were former residents at the NSHCC. I have knowledge of the

matters deposed to below. Where my knowledge is based on information obtained from others, I have so stated below, and I believe that information to be true. 3. I am married to Gordon Earle, a former member of the Canadian House of Commons. Gordon and I have been actively involved with the NSHCC for a good part of our married lives. Gordon was a former NSHCC Board Member and President of the NSHCC. He is currently an Honourary Board Member with the NSHCC. 4. Around September of 1980, the NSHCC's Board fired its Executive Director. Shortly after the Executive Director was fired, almost all of the NSHCC staff walked off the job due to low wages. The child care workers at the NSHCC were paid notoriously low wages. I believe that the workers at the NSHCC were the lowest paid such child care workers in the Province. The strike was nonetheless very brief. 5. Around October of 1980, the position of Executive Director remained unfilled. Gordon advised me that he was very interested in the position. We both believed that he could serve as an excellent role model for the NHSCC's residents. Gordon advised me that he had inquired of Eldridge Brindley, the NSHCC's Chair of the Personnel Committee, when the Board expected to post the Executive Director position. Gordon and myself were later advised by Mr. Brindley that no position had been posted because the NSHCC did not have sufficient money to hire an Executive Director. Mr. Brindley also advised us that the NSHCC was facing bankruptcy. 6. Gordon was unable to give up his employment to work without pay as the NSHCC's Executive Director. As I was a social worker with significant experience in Child Welfare, I offered my services to the NSHCC. They accepted my offer and I began working as Executive Director in October of 1980. 7. Around this time, I was advised by Gus Wedderburn, the Chair of the Board of the NHSCC, that at a meeting with the Education Committee, just prior to the strike in 1980, the Deputy Minister of Child Welfare, Dr. F.R. MacKinnon told him that the only reason for the low per diem rates paid to the NHSCC was prejudice. I believe what he told me to be true. 8. The NSHCC was unlike any other institution in the Province at the time. In the mid-sixties, the Province made a decision to start placing its wards into foster homes and small group homes. Evidence led the Province's decision-makers to understand that placing wards in these environments was in the best interest of the wards. The Province closed down other orphanage-like institutions, like the Veith House and the Children's Foundation of Halifax. 9. The Province was aware since at least the mid-sixties that the placement of wards in foster homes and small group homes was of greater benefit for the children. 10. The NSHCC remained open, while all other such similar institutions were closed by the Province or significantly altered. By the time I assumed the position of Executive Director, the NSHCC was the only place in the Province that retained the orphanage-

concept. The Province was aware since the mid-sixties that placing any children within this type of Institution was not in their best interests. 11. I quickly came to appreciate the systemic issues which faced the NSHCC. The NHSCC has long suffered from chronic underfunding. I believe that the residents suffered as a result of this underfunding. I know that the per diems paid by the Province to "white" group homes were significantly higher than those paid to the NSHCC. I believe that these other "homes" received per diems at least double, sometimes almost triple the quantum of those received by the NSHCC. 12. The staff at the NSHCC who worked directly with children had little to no training in child care work. I believe that the NSHCC was not provided the funding needed to provide the training required to staff who were working with young children removed from parental care. 13. The NSHCC paid its staff very low wages. I believe that the low wages being paid did not enable the NSHCC to attract and retain properly qualified staff. I believe that the NSHCC was not provided the necessary funding to pay any higher wages. 14. I believe that the combination of poor training and poor wages resulted in the retention of staff who were unable to adequately detect child predators. 15. Near the end of my term at the NSHCC, a staff member named Mr. Sparks made an appointment to see me. At that appointment he advised that some staff members were saying that he was sexually abusing residents. He wanted me to know that he was not their abuser. I had not heard of any rumors and I knew Mr. Sparks to be a good man. I assured him that I did not think he was abusing children. In hindsight, knowing what I do now, I wish that I would have questioned him even further. 16. When I began working as Executive Director, there was very little in the way of policies in place at the NSHCC. I believe that policies, such as staffing qualifications, discipline of children, appropriate child contact, proper food preparation, organized and regular contact with parents, and staff supervision, are critical to ensure the healthy and nurturing care of residents in a child care institution like the NSHCC. Such policies were grossly missing at the NSHCC. I believe that the residents suffered as a result of the lack of these policies. 16. Child programming is a critical part of healthy and nourishing care of residents in a child care institution like the NSHCC. There was absolutely no programming in place when I became Executive Director in October of 1980. There were no toys for the children to play with. There were no organized sports, programs, board games or planned field trips. 17. The lack of child care policies and programming at the NSHCC would have been obvious to any individual with any training and experience in child welfare.

18. As quickly as possible, I moved to implement proper policies. I recall at an initial staff meeting, when discussing the implementation of a policy surrounding appropriate child conduct, one staff member named Georgie Williams asked me, "If it is alright for a male to go into a female's room". I advised that yes, it was ok, provided that the male knocks first and is given permission to enter. This answer provided him with obvious satisfaction. Upon being given permission, he smirked in a manner that made my skin crawl to the point that from then on I was very aware of what staff were saying about entering residents' rooms. 19. When I initially assumed the position of Executive Director, it was with the understanding that it would only be for as long as it took the Board to hire a properly qualified African-Nova Scotian individual. I left the Executive Director position in June of 1981 upon receiving notice that the Board had hired Wilfred Jackson to replace me. 20. During my ten months as Executive Director of the NSHCC, I never saw or heard of a child care worker come to the NHSCC to meet with the Province's wards. I never saw a child care worker assess their needs or assess the conditions of the Institution which housed the wards. 21. We fostered several NSHCC residents. Many years later, one of these children told me that she had been the victim of repeated sexual abuse while she was a resident at the NSHCC. Even as an adult she did not recognize the sexual abuse to be wrong. She told me of the events in the context of what she felt was a "good story". It was immediately apparent to me that what she was describing was sexual abuse. I told her it was wrong, that the staff person was in a position of trust and that he should not have been doing that. Over the years since, she has continued to slowly relay to me more of her experiences at the NSHCC. I would label these experiences as sexual, physical and emotional abuse. I believe what she has told me to be true. After each admission, I arranged to meet with Wilfred Jackson to let him know what I had learned. 22 I observed acting out behavior in another foster child of mine from the NSHCC. I would later recognize this to be consistent with the behaviours of a sexually abused child. In 1985 the Bagley Report was released. This momentous report brought to light the systemic sexual abuse which was happening in orphanage-concept institutions like the NSHCC across Canada. It helped me identify the sexual victimization experienced by the foster child referenced in this paragraph. 23. Yet another of my foster children came to us from the NSHCC at almost the age of eight. She was a size 6, the same size as my then five year old daughter. Within only six months of living with us, away from the NSHCC, she blossomed into a size 12. 23. In approximately 1996, a former supervisor at the NSHCC approached me to tell me that she had been advised by another former resident of the rampant sexual abuse she was forced to endure as a young resident at the NHSCC. I arranged to meet with this former resident. For approximately three hours this individual relayed to me details of the sexual abuse she experienced. It was a gut-wrenching, very emotional three hours for both of us.

24. This individual's victimization included, but was not limited to, being raped off the premises at the age of 13 by a volunteer at the NHSCC, having to give sexual favours to a third staff member in exchange for drives, and being sexually assaulted by a second staff member. She advised that this second staff member continued to stalk and harass her after she left the NHSCC. He forced her to have sex with him repeatedly after she left. I believe what she was telling me to be true. 25. After this meeting, I asked the former resident what she wished to do about the abuse she suffered. In reply she stated that she recognized the good also happened at the Home and that she recognized that the Home played an important role in the life of black children. She simply wished an opportunity to bring her story before the Board of the NSHCC so that other residents would not have to endure what she went through. I said that I would meet with Executive Director, Wilfred Jackson to ask him to make sure her reasonable request happened. In 1996, I made an appointment for Gordon and I to meet with Wilfred Jackson 26. and the Chair of the Board Michael Mansfield. At this meeting we informed them of what I had been told by the former resident and relayed her request to be able to tell her story before the Board. To our shock and dismay, they refused her request. They advised that they would not meet with her. 27. Since 1996, I have had conversations with three other former residents at the NHSCC. Separately, each has relayed to me details of the severe abuse they suffered during their stay at the NSHCC. The abuse ranged from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The details of their stories are markedly similar. They advised that they have not discussed the details with each other. I believe what they each told me to be true. 28. I believe that my significant experience in child welfare matters allows me to appreciate and understand the genuineness of an abuse allegation. I believe that the stories of abuse I have heard over the years from the victims, independent of each other, to be true. 29. I believe that the NSHCC was chronically underfunded since its founding. I believe that this had a profound effect on the quality of care provided to children at the NSHCC. 30. Based on my education in child welfare and my significant experience in child welfare work and child welfare, I firmly believe that the Province has always had a responsibility to its wards to ensure that proper programming and educational requirements are met in child placement. The Province has always had a responsibility to ensure that its wards are placed in a safe environment. This responsibility is ongoing and requires ongoing site visits and assessments. 31. Based on my significant experience and involvement with the NSHCC, and other child care institutions, I believe that the Province failed to live up to its responsibility to

the wards it placed in the NHSCC. The Province took no responsibility for its wards at the NSHCC and tragic consequences were the unfortunate result.

SWORN TO at Halifax in the Province of Nova Scotia, this 1Oth day of February, 2012 before me:

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MICHAEL DULL
A Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia